The goal of this workshop is to develop strategies for creating a “higher risk/higher yield” (Boquet, 2003) peer tutor education program that does not rely on a mandatory, codified “training” course.

This workshop was born out of our own experiences at FIT, where we face difficulties providing peer tutor education. Like many writing centers, we want to engage peer tutors in high impact practices that result in the lasting social and academic effects documented by Gillespie, Hughes, and Kail (2010). To reach these ends, an expectation for tutors to be involved in carefully planned practicum meetings, scholarly activity (Dinitz and Kiedaisch, 2002), a mentoring program (Wenger, 1996), and community-building activities (Geller et al., 2007) is at the heart of how peer tutors at our institution develop their understanding of literacy and language learning.

Our conversations today will focus on the challenges and rewards of building a peer tutor education program that does not rely on a formal course. We invite participants to share, discuss and develop strategies to accomplish the following:

Hiring/selecting new peer tutors;

Preparing peers for their first session;

Encouraging feedback, trust, and good judgment;

Making practicum meetings meaningful and effective;

Developing mentorship opportunities in and outside of the writing center (tutors educating tutors, tutors building relationships with faculty, etc.);

Bringing peer tutors to conferences and encouraging publication.

Our intention is to collaboratively develop and draft a peer tutor education action plan that includes items we can all implement upon return to our writing centers. We hope this action plan will define goals and strategies for moving current peer tutor education models forward.

Workshop Overview

Introductions

Writing Center Learning Audit

Breakout Discussions—Strategies for creating a culture of learning/community of practice through: